Positional computer for bowling



Nov. 15, 1966 J. o. KELLEY 3,284,928

POSITIONAL COMPUTER FOR,BOWLING Filed May 18, 1964 o o o o N o m 25 21illllllllll/IA I n "mu-u- INVENTOR. 0. /%/76 United States Patent3,284,928 POSITIONAL COMPUTER FOR BOWLING Jerry 0. Kelley, Lake Ozark,Mo., assignor of one-third to Marlin Elecctric Company, Horicon, Wis., acorporation of Illinois, and one-third to Donald J. Mo-

loney, Wilmette, Ill.

Filed May 18, 1964, Ser. No. 368,165 8 Claims. (Cl. 35-29) Thisinvention provides an inexpensive, compact and easily understood andmanipulated computer for use in bowling for the purpose of determiningrecommended positions to be assumed by the player in dropping ordelivering the ball onto the alley and correcting the approach in orderto direct the ball most effectively into the pin array.

While numbers of devices of this class have been proposed from time totime, those deemed at all workable.

have been objectionable because of bulk and complexity, being tooinvolved to be of interest to the average bowler.

One of the outstanding features of the presently disclosed computer isits small size and fiat compactness which permits it to be carriedeasily in the shirt pocket.

Another feature of the device is its ease of manipulation in requiringonly the setting of a single index element and turning of a dial to movea display element in the form of a configuration simulative of theplayers feet whereby to designate the position the player should assumeto cause the ball to enter the pin array at a desired point either forthe purpose of making a strike or a spare, no adjustments being neededfor use by lefthanded players.

Additional features and aspects of novelty and utility relate to detailsof the operation and construction of the device as a fiat packet withbut few and simple working parts requiring no calculations or specialskill, and requiring only the usually observed data familiar to all spotbowlers in noting the spot on the alley at which the player customarilytends to drop or deliver his ball, and the point of entry of that ballinto the pin array, all of which will be more fully understood as thefollowing description proceeds in view of the annexed drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the face of a preferred embodiment of thecomputer shown at approximately full scale;

FIGURE 2 is an internal view in plan of the casing shown in FIGURE 1with its cover plate removed;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-section taken along lines 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic diagram of the functional relationship of theessential parts.

In the pocket-sized embodiment shown approximately to size in FIGURE 1,the relevant spotting and foul-line markings and pin array aredesignated on the cover plate 19 of the device in simulation of therelative arrangement in a regulation spot-bowling alley, the usual array15 of ten pins being situated at the upper end of the unit correspondingto the remote end of the alley, and the drop-guiding spots 22 beingdisposed beyond the usual foul-line designated by the markers 21.

The cover plate 19 of the casing is preferably formed of initially clearmolded plastic with its major area beyond the foul line rendered opaqueeither by localized pigmentation in the clear plastic or by appliedcolor or other opaquing means, there being left a small clear areaconstituting a window 23 at the foot of the unit through which isexposed to view a movable foot-position indicating means 24 in the formof an element molded in the configuration to simulate the players feet.

Exposed through the endwall of the casing at the top near the pin arrayis the milled edge of a dial or selector ice wheel 27 which may beturned in opposite directions to effect movement of an entry indexmember 26 movable along the arc of a slot 45 to assume various positionsrelative to the approach side of the pin array to show the point atwhich the ball has entered or is to enter the array.

Disposed between the spotting marks 22 and the markings 21 at thefoul-line is a laterally-movable spotting designator or marker 25exposed through a transverse linear slot 18, said marker being freelyslidable into selected positions opposite any spotting mark 22 toindicate the point at which the player has dropped or intends to drop ordeliver his ball.

The movable parts 24, 25, 26 and 27 are contained in the cavity of thebase portion 20 of the casing as depicted in FIGURE 2, the cover plate18 being preferably fitted and cemented into permanent assembly withsaid base portion, which includes as an integrally molded part thereof(FIGURE 3, also) a spindle stud 29 upon which is seated for freerotation the dial wheel 27, which in turn includes as an integrallymolded part thereof, on its bottom, a pulley wheel or sheave 30.

Also molded as a part of said dial and pulley structure, on the upperside thereof, is a hub portion 28 upon which is forcibly fitted theunder sized bore of a selectivelyadjustable index arm 40 having a radialexpansion slot 42 cut into said bore to afford sufficient expansion infitting upon the hub so that the arm frictionally seizes the hub andnormally tends to rotate with the latter and the dial, it being possiblenevertheless to move the index arm 40 itself independently of the dial,as will more fully appear.

The ball entry index 26 is preferably molded as a part of the index arm40 and projects upwardly from the plane of the latter for exposurethrough the arcuate slot 40 where it may be engaged by the finger tipfor selective positiong without disturbing the dial wheel.

Integrally molded as a part of the base section 20 are a pair of spacedupstanding lateral guide ribs 35 between which the laterally-adjustablespotting marker 25 glides in guided lateral movement with justsufficient fractional resistanse to cause it to stay in whateverposition it is put.

A set of pulley rollers 33 is disposed on integral studs 34 on the basefloor to guide a nylon cord 31 trained around and fixedly attached tothe driving pulley 30' by means of a drive pin 32 forced into a suitable.bore in the pulley rim, and by which means the relationship of the dialto the position of feet-location element 24 is determined, said feetelement being held fast on the cord 31 (as by cementing) in a smallblock portion 24A forming a part of the element 24 on the undersidethereof (FIG- URES 2 and 3).

Thus, when the dial is turned, the feet-locating indicator element 24will be positively shifted to some particular corresponding position,and moves in the opposite direction from the element 24, it beingobserved also in passing that responsive to such movement of the dial,the entry index arm 40 will also normally be moved in step with the dialand therefore with the foot or stance indicator element 24. However, theresistance or loading contributed by the pulley cord system, which ismore or less tightly trained over the rollers 33, is such in relation tothe frictional grab and slippage of the split yoke and hub means 42, 28which couples the index arm 40 to the dial, as to permit manual movementof arm 40 and its entry indicator 26 to any point along the arcuate slot45 Without at the same time disturbing the setting of the dial wheel orthe stance indicator 24.

Bowlers generally have a characteristic delivery pattern in dropping theball onto the alley, and frequently this pattern will involve a hook orspin or some other dynamic idiosyncrasy which causes the ball to deviatefrom the intended course it should otherwise follow when consistentlydropped in relation to one or another of the guide or spotting marks 22.

One of the correctives for these individual habits or faults is for theplayer to shift his position laterally across the alley in somepredetermined or calculated relationship to a selected one of thespotting marks 22 until by trial the desired delivery and entry isachieved or improved.

In order to make a strike on the pin array, it is known that the ballshould approach and enter the array at one of two strike zones A or Bdepicted in the schematic view of FIGURE 4, and it becomes one of therequirements for the player to adopt that stance or delivery approach inrelation to the alley markers 22 which will result in his directing theball into one of these two strike zones.

In the case of a spare which fails to result in a strike and leaves oneor more pins standing, similar principles of critical ball approach tothe pins left standing will prevail in the manner well-understood in theart.

It might be supposed, for example, that a spare leaves the -6-9-10 pinsstanding, as indicated by the dotted enclosing lines in FIGURE 4, inwhich case a suitable point of entry for the ball might be at theposition C.

Thus, the entry index 26 may be variously positioned along the are 45before the appropriate point of entry for one or another pattern formedby whatever pins remain standing, whereby to designate the desired ornecessary approach and entry for the second ball in order to make thespare and knock the remaining pins down, so that in these latterrespects the computer is equally useful as a means for indicating thebest position for a particular player who has carefully observed hishabits of approach and dropping of his ball and corresponding point ofentry of that ball into the array, in order to pick off any pin or pinsin making either a strike or a spare, whether the player is leftorright-handed.

By way of an example of the operation of the device, let it be assumedthat the full-line settings of the several movable parts seen in FIGURE1 illustrate the position of the players feet (at 24, full lines) andthe point of entry of the ball substantially into the right-hand strikezone A (i.e. at the full-line position of the entry index 26'), the ballhaving touched the alley substantially in the region denoted by thefull-line position of the drop marker 25. Under these conditions, it issupposed that the player finds that he does not achieve the expectedstrike, and he decides to try for the left-hand strike zone B.Accordingly, he turns the dial 27 clockwise to cause the entry index 26to shift to the left until the index 26 is in the dotted-line positionopposite zone B, in consequence of which it will be observed that thefoot-positioning indicator 24 has shifted still farther toward the rightinto the dotted-line position seen in FIGURE 1.

In the setting of the indicating components found in FIGURE 2, it willbe assumed that when the foot-position indicator 24 and the drop index25 are in the full-line positions shown, the ball actually strikes thekingpin, as represented by the dotted-line position of the entry index26 and arm 4%. If now the dial 27 is turned counter-clockwise until theentry index 26 is brought from the dottedline position into thefull-line position where it would be aligned with Strike zone A (forexample, as in FIGURE 1), then the foot-position indicator 24 wouldshift toward the left in FIGURE 2 and into the dotted-line position toindicate the new stance which should cause the ball to enter the strikezone A instead of travelling head-on into the kingpin.

Thus, the entry index 26 may be moved into any position whatever alongthe are of travel 45 before the simulated pin array, and the dial wheel27 may be turned to reposition said index to any other desired pointalong said are, the stance or foopposition indicator 24 always shiftingaccordingly, and always in an opposite direction from the movement ofindex 26. For example, if the index 26 were standing in the dotted-lineposition of FIGURE 2 and the stance indicator 24 were exactly centeredin its lateral run of displacement (approximately as in FIGURE 4), thena movement of index 26 to the right would shift the foot element 24 tothe left of center, and vice versa.

The outer face of the casing or body member 19 has thus been contrivedto simulate the layout of a bowling alley with the pin-spottingpositions 15 in the triangular array representing the disposition of thepins on the usual pin deck of a regulation alley, and the markings 21simulating the foul line in the players approach zone at the oppositeend of such an alley.

The are of travel for the ball-entry index member 26 is partially.circumam-bient of the pin array sufficient to afford positions at allcritical points of entry of the ball into such an array. The number 1pin or kingpin at the head of the array nearest the arcuate opening 45lies on a median longitudinal axis extending lengthwise of the simulatedalley through the mid-region of the array of delivery guide marks orspots 22, the transverse line of movement for the dropping or deliveryindex member 25, and the transverse path of movement of thefoot-position indicator 24.

Other alley markings suggested or contemplated by the rules of theAmerican Bowling Congress (ABC) might be added if desired, such as anapproach line (not shown), planking delineations (not shown), etc..Moreover, the form and relative positioning of the simulative markingsand configurations for the ten pins 15, indicating and index members 24,25 and 26, and foul-line and spotting markers 21, 22, may take otherforms if desired, and the form and arrangement of other parts of themechanism may be changed within the scope of the invention as defined inthe appended claims.

I claim:

1. A players position indicator for bowling which includes a body memberhaving thereon a simulated portrayal of a bowling alley withdesignations including a pin deck area at one end thereof and a playerszone and a lateral array of ball-delivery guide marks near an oppositeend thereof; means delineating the conventional pinspotting positions intriangular array for a set of ten pins on said deck area with thekingpin thereof disposed foremost toward said players zone and lyingalong an axis extending through the mid-region of said lateral array ofguide marks and the players zone; a selector wheel rotatable about anaxis normal to and beneath the plane of said pin deck and array of pins;a ball-entry index member movable along an arcuate path partiallycircumambient of said pin array between the kingpin and said array ofguide marks; means impositively coupling the index member and selectorwheel such that angular movement of the latter produces angular shiftingof the index member to various ball entry-designating position beforethe pinarray, said coupling means being of a character to permitrelative forced slippage between the index member and 1 wheel such thatthe index member may be selectively positioned before the pin arraywithout moving the wheel if the wheel is restrained a predetermineddegree, a foot-position indicator movable transversely of the alleyacross said axis near the players zone to desired positions in selectivealignment with said guide marks; and means drivingly interconnectingsaid wheel and foot-position indicator for moving the latter intopredetermined selected positions relative to said guide marks responsiveto predetermined selecting movements of said wheel, said index memberbeing moved predetermined angular amounts positively by such selectingmovements of the wheel to designate points of entry for a bowled ballinto the pin array in expected correspondence to the position of theplayer relative to the pin array as indicated by the footpositionindicator for the corresponding setting of the entry index member.

2. A device according to claim 1 further characterized in that saidinterconnecting means for the wheel and footposition indicator loads theselector'wheel to said predetermined degree necessary to cause the wheelto remain motionless when the entry index member is manually moved intoselected positions as aforesaid.

3. A device according to claim 1 further characterized in that said bodymember includes a laterally shiftable ball drop indicator movable inparallelism with said footposition indicator into selected positionsalong a line closely paralleling said array of delivery spotting markswhereby the position for dropping a ball, or at which a ball has beendropped, may be optionally designated in relation to any particularsetting of the foot-position indicator, and/ or any position of saidentry index member.

4. A device according to claim 1 in which said footposition indicatorcomprises a member having a configuration simulative of the outline ofthe soles of a players feet.

5. A device according to claim 1 in which the body member has atransparent window area at said players zone and said foot-positionindicator is disposed for selective movement as aforesaid within saidbody member behind said window.

6. A device according to claim 1 in which said wheel, said entry indexmember, and said foot-position indicator are all located in part withinsaid body member and said wheel and index member have portions exposedanteriorly of the body member for manual operative engagement, and saidbody member has a window area exposing to view the full range ofmovement of the foot-position indicator.

7. In a position indicating computer for bowling, the combination withmeans depicting a representation of a pin array and a linear array ofball-delivery spotting marks guidingly aligned with said pin array, of afoot-position indicator movable in parallelism with said array ofspotting marks; a ball-entry index movable in an arcuate path before thepin array, and manually-operable actuating means for simultaneouslymoving said index and said footposition indicator.

8. In a position indicating computer for bowling, the combination withmeans providing a flat surface simulatively representing a bowling alleyhaving delineated thereon a triangular array of bowling pins and atraverse linear array of ball-delivery marks as a simulated players arearemote from the pin array along an imaginary ball-rolling axis extendingfrom the mid-region of said players area through the kingpin of the pinarray; a foot-position indicating means movable transversely of saidaxis in substantial parallelism with said array of delivery marks at aside of the latter remote from the pin array toward the players area; aselector wheel rotatable beneath said alley surface; an index armcooperable with said wheel; a ballentry index moved by said arm in anarcuate path before said pin array to designate points of entry of aball into the array; means drivingly connecting the index arm with saidwheel for eifecting positive angular movement of the arm independentlyof movement of the wheel for selective manual positioning of said entryindex before the pin array; and means providing a positive drivingconnection for transmission of a driving force responsive to angularmovement of the Wheel to said foot-position indicator to shift thelatter relative to said array of delivery marks in correspondence withchanges in position of said entry index relative to the pin array.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,942,358 6/1960Pomranz 3529 2,989,810 6/1961 Marting 3529 3,081,559 3/1963 Kaminsky35-29 FOREIGN PATENTS 850,179 9/ 1960 Great Britain.

EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner.

H. S. SKOGQUIST, Assistant Examiner.

7. IN A POSITION INDICATING COMPUTER FOR BOWLING, THE COMBINATION WITHMEANS DEPICTING A REPRESENTATION OF A PIN ARRAY AND A LINEAR ARRAY OFBALL-DELIVERY SPOTTING MARKS GUIDINGLY ALIGNED WITH SAID PIN ARRAY, OF AFOOT-POSITION INDICATOR MOVABLE IN PARALLELISM WITH SAID ARRAY OFSPOTTING MARKS; A BALL-ENTRY INDEX MOVABLE IN AN ARCUATE PATH BEFORE THEPIN ARRAY, AND MANUALLY-OPERABLE ACTUATING MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLYMOVING SAID INDEX AND SAID FOOTPOSITION INDICATOR.